Article16. Repentance

Definition of Repentance

At the appointed time the Holy Spirit grants to each of the elect repentance that causes him to ‘change his mind’; he begins to understand his rebellion against God and his guilt, which made the death of Jesus Christ necessary for his salvation. Repentance moves everyone who receives it to be genuinely sorry (godly sorrow) for having wronged his God and enables him to turn from his state of self-centeredness to a state of God-centeredness with Jesus Christ as his Lord. Luke 3:1-20, Acts 2:37-41, Acts 20:21, Acts 11:18, 2 Corinthians 7:2-12, Romans 6:15-18

The Necessity of Repentance

The message of the Gospel is: “Turn from your sins (repent), trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sins by His death on the cross, and follow Him as your Lord.” Although repentance is not to be trusted as payment for sins, or as a means of earning pardon (that comes through embracing the cross-work of Jesus Christ alone), there can be no real salvation without repentance. Acts 2:37-41, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8

Continuing Repentance

Besides that initial act of repentance, without which no one can be saved, repentance is a lifelong concern for the believer. Since the believer continues to struggle with sin until he dies and enters into God’s presence, it is his responsibility to repent of all known sin. All true believers will exhibit a life marked by repentance. 1 John 1:5-2:2, Romans 6:14, Matthew 5:1-12, 1 John 3:9-10

*We would like to thank the New Covenant Church Cebu for allowing us to study and use their Statement of Faith as a basis of our own with some little or minor revisions to fit our core beliefs. Some articles remained as is because we believe that it accurately describes ours and so changes at this point is not necessary. We believe as a church that we are much closer to New Covenant Theology and furthest away from Dispensational Theology. In terms of the covenants, some of us hold to a pre-fall covenant and an overaching covenant of grace. But generally we are NCT.